Tag: humour

Last night my friend and I got to experience I-Animal, thus offering us the opportunity to explore our inner creatures,as well as a select few residents of the Melbourne Zoo.

Before commencing the tour we were all presented with our new best friend for the evening, ‘Zoe’: an interactive i-phone/tablet-type device fitted with senheisser headphones. We were then asked to pick our favourite animal out of a possible three choices.

From there each tour is an individual experience. There is no ‘sheep option,’ on this tour, so you can’t just mindlessly follow the people in front of you. For this night to be a success you really need to succumb to Zoe, and let her dictate your movements for the evening.

My friend and I walked through the gates of the zoo with head sets a go and literally within a minute were separated. I found myself being told to walk down a dirt path to the left, whilst my counterpart bounded straight ahead. But fear not, we were reunited at the end of the evening, eager to swap stories from our different experiences.

The unique adult-only audio tour mixed factual information about certain animals with a combination of folklore, myth and humour. Each tour group sees a different combination of three exhibits, enabling close inspection of the different animals within a small group of people. I first encountered a Sumatran tiger fiercely pacing up and down in the water waiting to snatch up its chicken for the night, whilst a walking bass line rapidly blared through my speakers.It was the most active I had ever seen a tiger and the atmosphere was thrilling. Then there was the hilarity of crazy sexual reproduction information at another exhibit, and at another time, one lady was bought to tears whilst in the process of replicating the grieving process for another animal.

It would have been nice if the tour were longer, and included more exhibits to explore. However, you are encouraged to return again to experience one of the alternate tour options.

For this event you will need to enter via the main gate.It begins promptly at 7pm, so it’s a good idea to arrive at 6.30, but don’t bother any earlier than that as nothing is open!

I-Animal is a special experience that allows reality to be suspended for an hour while you travel around mesmerised, listening to Zoe and discovering your inner animal.

Am I Good Friend? is a show which mines, with hilarious results, the gap between our perception and the reality of how we relate to other people. Compiling graphs, pie charts of ambiguous flavour and anecdotal evidence on how to be a good friend, performer Yve Blake embarks on a pseudo-scientific and fantastical quest for what she calls the ‘golden egg of truth’.

Greeted at the entrance of The Butterfly Club by Blake’s ‘stage manager’, who hands out iced Vovos whilst dressed in a stylish garbage-bag garment, we are handed small cards and invited to answer a personal question or two to aid Blake’s ‘research’. One quick costume change later and Blake herself appears in a make-shift lab coat and begins to ingratiate herself with the audience.

Over the next hour we are taken on a journey through Blake’s history of spotty behaviour as a friend, relayed through multimedia presentations, lip-synched re-enactments of embarrassing conversations and Skype-d testimonials from her closest friends. Given Blake’s sunny and adorable stage presence, this is actually almost too hard to believe!

Blake is a hurricane of delightful comic energy, bouncing off the walls with bright eyes and a wide sincere smile. Along with her goofy and enthusiastic nature, she is also unafraid to shamelessly plug her awkwardness and short-comings for laughs – her comedic commitment to her own humiliation is hysterically funny. Although her approach to her material is high-octane the show never seems rushed or garbled, her remarkable diction worthy of note considering the speed at which she speaks! Blake has a fantastic gift for interacting with and including her audience, finding many clever (and at one point, truly touching) ways to bring audience members into the show.

The hour-long show flies past, and the conclusion is a communal acknowledgement of all our faults and mistakes as friends to others, Blake ultimately managing to find both pathos and humour in the universal experience of loneliness and being an outsider. Ultimately this is an outstanding show which, much like Blake herself, hides a surprising depth beneath its sunny exterior.

The first thing I noticed when Wil Anderson came on stage to perform his 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival show Wilarious, were the missing presence of thongs.

I have seen Wil perform five times and each time he has never worn proper shoes. I felt this was going to be a very different show with him standing in front of a room full of people – except for the two empty seats front row center (their loss) – wearing shoes!

The beauty of Wil is that much of what he says has probably happened to many people, but it’s stuff that hardly anyone is willing to admit in a public forum. Put your hand up if you would happily (ok, maybe not happily) admit that “someone once fell asleep as I was going down on them”. Didn’t think so. But Wil does. And despite the subject matter, he doesn’t allow it get into crass territory, a trap into which so many others fall into.

Much of Wilarious does however draw on current issues and social commentary. There a perfect blend of seriousness and humour in what Wil has to say: from gay marriage rights to teaching kids that life isn’t always fair and not having them believe everyone comes up a winner all the time. There is truthfulness and reality to what Wil is saying and with his unique blend of story-telling and humour, and it makes for some poignant moments too – followed by fits of laughter.

Wil tells us that his mantra in life is that if you hear something negative, turn it into a positive. Sadly, it cannot be done in this circumstance as Wil is in top form delivering the right amount of laughs with the right amount of thinking and intellect. Wilarious met and exceeded expectations, reminding me why Wil Anderson is still considered as one of the best Australian stand-up comedians today.

This long weekend, how about celebrating with something a bit different?

Why not treat yourself to a fun night out with the girls for the return season of this hilarious show?!

Here’s what the lovely lady herself has to say about it…

Dear Mums,

My name is Lizzie Matjacic and I’d like to tell you about my cabaret show!

It’s a fun look at the trials and tribulations of being a mum, right from pregnancy through to mothering a toddler and beyond – with some great show tunes thrown in! I am a mum with a 4 year-old son and am about to do it all again in February with my second, so this is my personal story and something I am hoping you will enjoy and relate to as a mother’s group. So, grab your girlfriends and a babysitter for the night and come and have a relaxed and fun night of entertainment with me!

Love, Lizzie xxx

From Here To Maternity is a funny and nostalgic look at the joys of motherhood – from pregnancy tests and parenting tips to teething toddlers and tipsy teddy bears…

Lizzie has learnt that Mother doesn’t always know best, but it can sometimes be fun finding out!

Mum’s the word!

Written and performed by Lizzie MatjacicAccompanied by Adeline Han
Directed by Kim Edwards

Wondering what on earth you and your friends should do after work this week?

Don’t stress! This Girl Friday has the perfect solution…

After full houses for its opening season last week, the quirky new cabaret The Secret Life of a Secretary is back by popular demand for two final performances this week.

Dynamic young artist Claire De Freitas, a graduate of the Creating Solo Cabaret course, is spilling the secrets of what goes on in those office cubicles and behind those corporate doors. Funny, feisty and full of all the gossip we’ve been dying to know, this Friday and Saturday night will be your last chance to see this highly popular show this year!

From audience sales last week, we know these tickets won’t be available for long…

So call your work friends, clear your schedule, kick off your high heels and hang up your suit jacket, and book fast!

After-work drinks and a great night out of music and laughs? Now, that’s something to smile about after a long day in the office…!